Busy busy

I look back at my week, in a rare pause-for-breath moment. I can't quite believe how hectic it has been. It's Saturday now, and my to-do list is still long. Some with school, some with home. No real pause-for-breath time yet.

This week I have had over 20 parent interviews. That's not much - I'm not a secondary teacher so don't see a lot of students, just my little flock to nurture through this year.

I have written around 10,000 - yes, ten thousand, that WAS the right number of noughts - words. No, not a dissertation - just end of term reports on around a dozen different subjects for each child.

I have planned and organised a cross-curricular day, incorporating History, English, Geography, Maths, Science, PSHE, PE, Drama and Art.

I have been to a church committee meeting, having great fun thinking about our vision and values - who we are.

I have been to a wonderful celebration where Christians from all over our tiny island, from many different churches, gathered together to worship and pray.

I wouldn't have missed any of that for the world.

I love meeting parents, allaying their anxieties about their children, celebrating progress made, gaining an insight into the kids I teach.
I love writing reports: reflecting on the progress the children have made and where I want to take them to next.
I love 'different' days where we dress up and follow a theme throughout the day. It makes learning so much more relevant.
I love being part of an active church which seeks to honour God in everything it does.
I love worshipping God with music, poetry and prayer. I love seeing Him at work in my life and the lives of those I love.

Would I miss any of these to be a little less busy?

No.

(Though the ten thousand words were too many to write... I'd like to do fewer of those next time).

SOoo Excited!

I'm so excited about tomorrow. Me, 36 eager little boys, and 4 other teachers.
I'm not so sure the teachers are quite as excited as I am, but they're humouring me. We're having a cross-curricular day at school.

The theme is 15th Century Explorers.

We come dressed as sailors from the era of Columbus. We're going to be writing ships' logs and making replica leather bound books -it's amazing what you can do with cardboard, glue, paper towels and brown paint. Plus a little bronze or copper gilding... We'll draw navigational instruments, ships, describe the living conditions onboard ship, keep a record of all those who have died of scurvy.

Our maths will include working out directions for locating treasure on a desert island: angles, bearings, scale...

We'll be collecting rations for the ships' crews, working out a balanced diet by trading for the right amount of foodstuffs. Some of our sailors will receive training in first aid for accidents and other medical emergencies. Others will be taught about the dangers of sunstroke and skin damage.

Best of all - we're all dressing up! Now, where did I put my wooden leg...?

November 27th

It's a strange time of year for us.
Today would have been my father's eighty-fifth birthday. He died of ill-health just over two years ago. Longing, by the end, to go. I don't remember the date of his dying - it took some time. I remember his birth with thanks.
Two days ago, thirteen years ago, my brother died suddenly. He had so much to live for - a happy marriage, a three year old daughter, a baby son. A life wiped out in an instant, a shared life taken from them all.
A lost future.
Now the daughter is sixteen.
Thirteen years, and life has gone on.

The ultimate compliment - for a teacher

'Mummy..' said Alex, absorbed in his work but needing just a little bit of help.
The only problem was that he wasn't at home. He was at school. In class.
'Mummy' was me. His teacher.

A tremendous compliment for me.
Not so much for his mum. She's maybe a couple of decades younger. Dark and pretty.

Great fun, though. Lots of giggling - from Alex, from me, from his friends.

Questions and answers

The Son rang today and had a good chat with his father. They talked about surfing: wetsuits, surfboards, waves, breaks... There was a mention that he was working on an essay at the moment, but that was the gist of the (long) conversation.

That is not at all the conversation he might have had with his mother.

She has all kinds of questions. What is he eating? How is he getting on with his work? Has he had any essays marked yet? Does he have any holiday work fixed up? How is church going? Does he know when he is coming home?

Pragmatic questions. I would probably not dare ask them all - it would seem like an inquisition. He'll tell me, in time. I know which conversation he would prefer to have.

Longing

I've become somewhat raw recently. Not in a bad sense, but a feeling of being raw and open to others' wounds. It saddens me when I feel the difficulties others are facing: ill-health; redundancy - without the financial package, just a week's wages; the break-up of a relationship.

It is all loss - of security, of direction, of hope, of joy.

Often, though, I can help in a small way. I can visit, I can empathize, I can provide practical care, I can give a listening ear.

The saddest is when I am raw to others' lack of a sense of purpose. They are looking - but cannot find, because they do not know where to look. How can I help them to do that? How do I find the right words?

The only way I can help is to pray. For them, for myself - for awareness, for knowing what to say and when to say it. For them.

Links

We have just made acquaintance with a family who we might have met, twenty odd years ago: almost twenty years exactly, to be precise. (I say 'might have' because we discovered we had all gone to the same conference, at the same time, but do not remember ever meeting.) In Kenya, where we have all lived, loved, worked...

So we are sitting together, the conversation flying with 'Do you know...?' and 'Do you remember...?' until we must, in the space of an hour or so, have mentioned over a hundred names.

And here we are in Guernsey.

And what I am wondering, is, Why?

Why, God, have you brought us together? For what purpose? For there is purpose in everything, our task is to find out what GOD's purpose is in the everything.

Apart from a delightful sense of community, what is your purpose here, O God?

I am wondering.